The influence of mechanical stimulation on osteoclast localization in the mouse maxilla: bone histomorphometry and finite element analysis.

The mechanism of traumatic bone resorption in the denture-bearing bone has not yet been established with regard to the osteoclastic activity in relation to the mechanical stimulus. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether osteoclast appearance in maxilla depends on the strain intensity, using the murine loading model. The maxillary palate of thirteen-week-old male C57BL/6 mice was subjected to continuous pressure of 2 kPa (low stimulation, n = 4) or 7 kPa (high stimulation, n = 4) for 30 min/day for 7 consecutive days, and the mice were sacrificed after the last loading. The control group underwent the same protocol without load (n = 4). An animal-specific finite element model was constructed based on morphology and characteristics obtained from the micro-CT data and used to calculate the strain intensity of the bone. The bone histomorphometric technique revealed significant reduction of cortical bone volume and significant increase of bone resorption parameters such as osteoclast number in the bone tissue under the loading contact in comparison to the control (p < 0.05). The osteoclasts were observed in the subsurface region adjacent to the loading contact and the peripheral region of the marrow space in the intracortical region of the cortical bone in the mouse maxilla in both stimulation groups. An average of more than 90 % of the osteoclasts was observed in the areas with strain intensity higher than 85.0µ strain for the high stimulation group. The result suggests that the osteoclastic resorption is location-dependent and is also sensitive to the local strain intensity.

Biomechanical effect of crestal bone osteoplasty before implant placement: a three-dimensional finite element analysis.

This study investigated the biomechanical effects of crestal bone osteoplasty and flattening procedures carried out in edentulous knife-edge ridges to restore bone width before implant placement on the virtually placed implants using finite element methods. Three-dimensional models representing a knife-edged alveolar bone with two different crestal cortical bone thicknesses (1.6mm, thin group; 3.2mm, thick group) were created. Gradual crestal bone osteoplasty with 0.5mm height intervals was simulated. Cylindrical implants with abutments and crowns were constructed and subjected to oblique loads. Maximum stress was observed at the cervical region around the implant neck. Different osteoplasty levels showed different stress values and distributions. Highest compressive stress was observed in the flat models (60.8 MPa and 98.3 MPa in thick and thin groups, respectively), lowest values were observed when osteoplasty was limited to the sharp edge (36.8 MPa and 38.9 MPa in thick and thin groups, respectively). The results suggested that eliminating the sharp configuration in knife-edge ridges improved stress and strain outcomes, but flattening the alveolar crest and/or uncovering the cancellous bone resulted in a marked increase in compressive stress and strain values in the peri-implant bone that may influence the longevity of implants placed in these ridges.